1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wavelength-tunable laser system, and more particularly, to a wavelength-tunable single-mode laser system using an Opto-Very Large Scale Integration (Opto-VLSI) processor.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Many studies have been conducted to apply single-mode lasers to optical communication. In particular, erbium-doped lasers have a broad light emission spectrum and a uniformly broad gain, and hence have a high Side-Mode Suppression Ratio (SMSR). However, optical fiber ring lasers may exhibit multimode oscillation, mode competition, and mode hopping phenomena due to a long cavity length, and hence, wavelength tuning may be inaccurate.
A few wavelength-tunable single-mode laser systems have been reported. For example, wavelength-tunable single-mode laser systems using an optical fiber Bragg grating, a Fabry-Perot filter, and an etalon filter have been reported. However, the wavelength-tunable single-mode laser system using the optical fiber Bragg grating is sensitive to changes in a peripheral environment. For the wavelength-tunable single-mode laser system using the optical fiber Bragg grating, high packaging cost is required and a wavelength-tunable band is limited. Because the wavelength-tunable single-mode laser systems using the Fabry-Perot filter require an additional element such as the Fabry-Perot filter, the structure becomes complex and manufacturing cost becomes high.